Tolog Review: The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
reviewed by Julia Swart

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, is a beautifully written book that tells a story about a lot more than the venomous insects featured in the title. Yes, you should let the name fool you, but not completely. In the beginning of the novel we are taken to Sylvan, South Carolina, 1964 and introduced to Lily Owens, an under loved and over powered girl in her early teens. Living on a peach plantation that Lily calls home her vicious father T. Ray, and stand-in-mother Rosaleen, a feisty African American woman that worked for T. Ray picking peaches until after Lily’s mother died. Lily’s life is a book of questions without any answers. Why did her mother leave them? What was her mother like? And most importantly, how exactly did her mother die? When Rosaline is sent to jail for spitting on the shoes of three white men, Lily is given an opportunity to pursue the answers to the questions she has had for so long. Led by an intriguing picture of and African American Virgin Mary, Lily and Rosaleen escape to Tiburon, South Carolina, a small town where three peculiar black women possessing the same picture take them in without knowledge of Lily’s initial mission. Lily’s eyes are quickly opened up to the life of bees and all that comes with it. This novel weaves together themes of love, compassion, and the ability to over step boundaries we didn’t know existed. The Secret life of Bees, like many other books, has a much deeper meaning beneath the surface that will continue to please and surprise all that read it. This book reminds its readers not only that life is a gift, but also that our lives are an unending mystery, and the choice is ours whether or not we want to solve them. I highly recommended this book for anyone who loves an easy read that probably wouldn’t warm your heart in the beginning, but definitely will by the end.